How to Question a Witness
The funny guy knows his stuff.
Note the style: minimal speechmaking, found the premise of the employers' argument, and attacked it ruthlessly with short, pointed questions. And wouldn't let him waffle, or run out the clock. The whole thing was decidedly un-senatorial. (Taking the witness to task over a probable typo is a bit much, and I'll bet whoever drafted that testimony caught hell back at the office. Nonetheless, the way the premise was dismantled was beautiful).
Franken for SCOTUS?
Note the style: minimal speechmaking, found the premise of the employers' argument, and attacked it ruthlessly with short, pointed questions. And wouldn't let him waffle, or run out the clock. The whole thing was decidedly un-senatorial. (Taking the witness to task over a probable typo is a bit much, and I'll bet whoever drafted that testimony caught hell back at the office. Nonetheless, the way the premise was dismantled was beautiful).
Franken for SCOTUS?
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I think we leave him right where he is for the moment. This may be the beginning of a very illustrious Senate career.
October 8, 2009 10:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thank You for posting this, Rumpole. Yes, Franken for Scotus!
Here is a list of the Republican pond scum that voted pro-rape [Nay]:
Alexander (R-TN)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Bond (R-MO)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC)
Gregg (R-NH)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johanns (R-NE)
Kyl (R-AZ)
McCain (R-AZ)
McConnell (R-KY)
Risch (R-ID)
Roberts (R-KS)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Wicker (R-MS)
The Republicans that voted for the amendment [Yay], 4 are women:
Bennett (R-UT)
Collins (R-ME)
Grassley (R-IA)
Hatch (R-UT)
Hutchison (R-TX)
LeMieux (R-FL)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Snowe (R-ME)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Every Democrat voted for the amendment except Specter and Byrd, who didn't vote.
October 8, 2009 11:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
Have to repeat my comment from above. Leave him in the Senate. (At least until we get a non-Republican governor here in MN.)
As he gains seniority, can you even imagine him chairing a committee?
There are plenty of good jurists around for SCOTUS. Good Senators, we can use a few more of, if you ask me.
October 8, 2009 12:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
“Good Senators, we can use a few more of, if you ask me.” Make that a lot more of, if you ask me!
October 8, 2009 12:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
You have a point, OG. You also have a very good Senator.
I couldn't help but wonder where Norm Coleman would have come down on the issue. Took about .01% of a second to have that answer.
There is a very small group of voters in MN that are owed much by this nation. I salute them.
October 8, 2009 7:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
There ya go Seashell. A little Seashell supplementation.
THIS WAS A BIG DEAL. Grouch and I were just talkin about this. Al is a goood man. And binding arbitration is just another corporate shield for the pigs that own everything.
This is a good blog.
October 8, 2009 8:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Franken went straight to the spot where the argument for secret binding arbitration breaks down--which is the point where a) damage to an employee is so great that it needs to be handled in a criminal court and b) other/future employees have a right to know about company practices so they can make an informed decision about whether to work for the company. Good for him, for not getting involved in a philosophical discussion about whether arbitration works in general.
If an employee committed a crime against the company, you've got to figure KBR wouldn't arbitrate that--they'd press charges....
October 8, 2009 12:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Fantastic! Thanks for posting that!
October 8, 2009 1:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
You can always count on the Republicans to vote for Family Value Ethical policies. Consistently.
October 8, 2009 4:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
"I am a good person. Doggonit, people like me."
October 8, 2009 5:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm not so sure it was a typo. Franken actually tried to check the cite for the statistics. On another discussion board a labor law lawyer said that arbitration goes in favor of the employer about 90% of the time, and judges/jurys only about 50%. This is completely at odds with the claims of the witness Franken was questioning.
October 8, 2009 6:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow! That was like a scene from a movie.
October 9, 2009 9:18 AM | Reply | Permalink